Saturday, May 24, 2014

Our dog, Sadie, has rolled in poo two times in two days! (She has done this sort of thing before, but never this close together.) This greatly frustrated me and I walked around ranting and yelling at her because of it!

After bathing her - again - and while washing out the tub, I asked the Lord what He could teach me from this. This is what came to my mind:

When I choose to sin, I am basically saying that God's bathing me, or cleansing me from unrighteousness, was not good enough. I'm stating that I would rather roll in and be covered in poo! Other dogs might be attracted to me and welcome me into their pack, but to my Master, well - I stink! My Master went to the trouble of stooping down to pick me up, carry me to the washing tub of the cross and cover my sin with the blood of Christ! He then toweled me off, set my feet upon the rock of Jesus Christ, and clothed me in His righteousness! So why do I then walk away clean and smelling sweet, only to go out and willingly roll in the stench of the world?

Well, I'm so thankful that God doesn't react to me the way I did to Sadie - by yelling at her and telling her how much she frustrates me. No. God is patient and kind, slow to anger and showing compassion (see Psalm 103:8). He is my loving Master, Who time after time lovingly points out the sin I've allowed back in. He then again stoops down to pick me up and washes over me with His grace!

Oh Lord, You are too good to me! Please help me to be more like You. Even with this furry creature, help me to demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. Thank You for not acting inconvenienced whenever I sin against You, but instead display yet again Your steadfast love that never ceases! Holy Spirit, enable to me walk in the righteousness of Christ, transformed by the renewing of my mind and no longer conformed to the pattern of this world. May my life reflect the cleansing Christ has done in me and for me when He died on the cross for me and rose again to everlasting life!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

I've been gardening for several years now. The garden has not only provided physical food and nourishment to my family and me, but I've also received several spiritual applications for my life as well. I have shared some here on this blog, so feel free to look for those garden analogies (use search). I want to share with you the most recent:

We used a
lot of horse poo in the garden this year. While digging around in the dirt and poo this morning, God told me that if I let Him, He will
take all the poo that comes my way and use it to fertilize my heart
& spirit, causing good things to grow and reproduce in/through me.
BUT, I have to be willing to let go of the poo in the first place.
Otherwise it will stay put and build up toxins in my body and spirit, causing disease and quite possibly leading to death!

Lord, thank You for speaking to me in the everyday things of life.
Thank you for taking the poo of life and using it to help me grow in
ways I never imagined. I pray for my loved ones that they too will
allow you to do the same in them and for them. Jesus, thank You for
making all things new!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

I heard the name Malachi in my sleep this morning. I took that as God's leading to read the book of Malachi, so I did. I asked Him beforehand to help me to see what I need to see. I want to share with you what I saw:

God is speaking to His people, telling them how they have turned away from Him. He is reminding them that judgement comes as a result. He also reminds them that if they repent, He will bless them instead.

Malachi 1:10-14 talks about how God's people have cheated Him and profaned His name by promising perfect sacrifices but offering injured, crippled or diseased animals instead. In verse 12 it says: "But you profane it [His name] by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible,' and you say, 'What a burden,' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty."

We are doing the same thing today. We do not honor the Name of God. We profane it by the way we misuse His name in our language. We act as if His Word (spiritual food) is defiled and contemptible. We consider His Word and His will as a burden and we sniff at it contemptuously. We do this by compromising His Word to suit us and by rationalizing away our sin. This injures, cripples and causes disease in us!

In verse 14 God says: "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the LORD. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and My name is to be feared among the nations."

Week after week, many Christ followers go to worship services more out of a habit or sense of obligation rather than a desire to meet with God. We have lost the fear of the LORD and our fruitlessness in our worship services and in our daily lives bears witness to that.

Malachi chapter two addresses the priests. In verses 1-2, we read, "And now this admonition is for you, O priests. If you do not listen and if you do not set your heart to honor My name," says the LORD Almighty, "I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor Me." I think it's safe to say that the Church, especially in America is experiencing curses - even the blessings of our freedoms are being cursed!

Verses 7-9: "'For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge and from his mouth men should seek instruction - because he is a messenger of the LORD Almighty. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble, you have violated the covenant with Levi,' says the LORD Almighty." Each Believer is considered a priest. 1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are
a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging
to God, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of
the darkness and into His wonderful light." Back to Malachi: "So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law." Of course the entire book of Malachi was written to the Israelites, but God continues to use the whole of His Word to speak to His people today. These passages parallel the state of the Church, (as I already mentioned) especially in America. Christians are daily being more and more despised and humiliated - just read the daily news! Church, we have got to remember who we are and why we are here! In Christ, we were made holy! We need to repent of our sins and begin again walking as children of the light!

Continuing in Malachi 2:10-12, "Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another? Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god." How does this apply to the Church today? As I mentioned earlier, we have compromised the Word of God and twisted it to suit our own desires, and to justify our sins. There are even some who are now saying that the Muslim's Allah is the same as Jehovah God! This is not so!

Malachi 2:13, "Another thing you do: you flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because He no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, 'Why?' It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant."

All throughout Scripture, God uses marriage to represent our relationship to Him. The Church is the bride of Christ and Christ is the bridegroom. Again, God is telling us today that we are guilty - guilty of leaving our first love. We have broken our marriage vows by adulterating with the world! God is telling us, "So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth." (verse 15b) He says this twice!

Chapter two goes on to point out, "You have wearied the LORD with your words. 'How have we wearied Him?' you ask. By saying, 'All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and He is pleased with them', or 'Where is the God of justice?'"

Going on to chapter three verse six: "I the LORD do not change...Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. And in verses 8-12 God points out how the people have robbed Him by neglecting to trust Him with their tithes. He assures them if they will trust Him in this way, that He will bless them with so much in return, they won't have room to store it all! And in verses 13-15, God calls out the people for not trusting in Him and His ways. They've been saying that it is "futile to serve God," because in their eyes it didn't seem to do any good.

Fortunately, we see a change of heart in verses 16-18: "Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored His name. 'They will be Mine,' says the LORD Almighty, 'in the day when I make up My treasured possession, I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between those who serve God and those who do not." I prefer the New Living Translation rendering of verse 17: "They will be my people," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. "On the day
when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will
spare them as a father spares an obedient child."

Oh, how I want to be in God's scroll of remembrance because I feared Him and honored His name!

Malachi chapter 4 talks about the Day of the LORD, which refers to the Day of Judgement. Those who fear His name need not dread this day, because for them it will be a day of healing and release!
"But for you who revere My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall." (verse 2)

That image makes me smile. Can't you picture calves out leaping and skipping because they are so happy to be out of the stall and in the green open pasture? One day we will be released from our earthly bodies and into our perfect new bodies! Glory!

Malachi ends with these words: "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."

I'm reminded of a brief dream I had either before or after hearing the name Malachi in my sleep this morning. I saw my son as a young child. He was standing just outside the door. I reached down to pick him up and bring him back into the house. I then loved on him just as I used to. Oh how God our Father wants to love on His people! But we must repent - become as innocent children again.

"They will be my people," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. "On the day
when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will
spare them as a father spares an obedient child."

Father God, how I pray that we, Your people, will repent of our sins. Forgive us for allowing sin to enter our lives, causing us to be crippled, injured and diseased. Forgive us for sniffing at Your Word contemptuously! Forgive us for defiling Your name! I pray that we will once again honor You and revere Your Name - for Your Name is great and greatly to be praised! I pray that we will return to our first love, Jesus Christ, so that we can be presented to You as undefiled, without spot or wrinkle. I pray that we will fear You and honor You so that we too can have a scroll of remembrance written on our behalf in Your presence! Father, turn our hearts back to You. Amen.